Power Hungry

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Computers' Appetite For Electricity Raises Concerns

Computers and the Internet were supposed to be energy-friendly
technology, but some experts are beginning to question just how
friendly. There’s no denying that the Internet allows millions of
people around the world to communicate easily and cheaply without
leaving home or office. That saves energy - from commuter trips
in the car to business flights across the ocean, not to mention
package express.

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But computers, along with the powerful servers, packet routers
and other equipment that keep home, corporate and global networks
functioning, also consume electricity. And the spectacular rate
of growth in computer networks will demand more and more electric
power, according to expert Mark Mills, a physicist and forecaster
of electronic technology, and Peter Huber, an attorney and the author
or books on science and technology. Indeed, it’s already happening,
says Mills and Huber.

While demand in other energy sectors is stable or decreasing, U.S.
electricity demand is growing 3 percent a year. More than half of
that increase is due to the rise of the computer microprocessor,
they contend. The estimated 100 million computers and pieces of
computer-related equipment already connected to the Internet worldwide
- each drawing from hundreds to thousands of kilowatt-hours per
year - add up to 290 billion kilowatts of demand, Mills and Huber
estimate. That’s equal to about 8 percent of current U.S. demand.
If you add in all the computers and appliances containing computer
chips that are not connected to the Internet, the world electric
demand from information technology is equal to about 13 percent
of current U.S. demand, Mills and Huber figure.

Others have made similar estimates. Steven Anzovin, author of “The
Green PC”, calculated that personal computers devoured 330 billion
kilowatt hours of electricity in 1997, “enough to keep California’s
11 million households running for more than three years.” When Mills
and Huber laid out their estimates in a recent issue of Forbes magazine,
the numbers sent shivers through both the information-technology
industry and the environmental community. “I’m still reeling from
that one,” said Ted Smith, executive director of the Silicon Valley
Toxins Coalition, which tracks environmental problems generated
by the computer industry. “Where is that energy going to come from?”